


Rhapsody in Blue

by Thylabee



Category: Megamind (2010)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Asexual Character, Asexual Relationship, Asexuality Spectrum, Blood and Violence, Brainbots are the best, Cuddling (eventually), Eventual Romance, F/M, Happy Ending, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Megamind Has Gills, Megamind gets his ass kicked, Minion doesn't have gills, Multi, OC Superhero, Roxanne saves the day, Slow Burn, Swearing, Wayne is a selfish jerk, What is this? Alien biology
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:35:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28705275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thylabee/pseuds/Thylabee
Summary: Metro Man is called away for an emergency right before the opening of the Metro Man Museum. Some new 'Hero' has been called in anticipation of an attack by Megamind. Things get ugly fast. Roxanne is left to pick up the pieces, and realizes she has the power to change destinies...... and they realize some feelings and stuff. I'm bad at summaries. I am also very slow at writing. Sorry.
Relationships: Megamind/Roxanne Ritchi
Comments: 33
Kudos: 77





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Enormous thanks to all the amazing authors who inspired me to write a Megamind fic. You all truly have made the characters even better than the original movie.  
> Specific thanks to Setepenre_set, Ladyspock7, Impatientseamstress, Dalniente, and anyone else I may take little snippets of headcannons from. You will know who you are and I hope you don't mind. 
> 
> To whoever did an amazing Megamind cosplay at Seattle's Emerald City Comicon many years ago, and maybe remembers getting squealed at by a short person in steampunk robot face paint, if you are reading this, I still think about you sometimes. That costume was so good. 
> 
> I have the first two chapters written, so the next one will be up quick, but after that y'all might have to wait a while for more. I'm still figuring out where I want this fic to go.

She flirts with Megamind because it is safe.

Roxanne knows that flirting with a supervillain shouldn’t be safe. It is, as Wayne likes to put it, literally flirting with danger, but what else was she supposed to do, really, when the villain unintentionally dropped an innuendo into his evil monologue. She had already garnered a reputation for quick banter and witty comebacks. The first time it happened, Roxanne froze up after her own automatic response, but the expected didn’t happen. Megamind didn’t ramp up to crude jokes, or ‘take the bait’ as it were. He just moved on with the conversation, like nothing had happened. Like the flirtatious remarks were nothing more than their regular banter.

  
It did become a part of their regular banter. Megamind boasting about his latest plans to destroy Metro Man, Roxanne hitting back with sharp words and sarcasm, slipping into the flirtatious. Surprisingly, unlike everyone else in her life Megamind didn’t seem to resent her harsh truths and lack of proper Damsel behavior, seemed to instead actually enjoy the challenge, like a game. It must be a type of game to him, she thinks, as she is never really in any danger. The hostage chair always placed just a little too far from the swinging blades, just a few degrees to the side of the flamethrower, just a touch out of reach of the gators. Yes, Roxanne felt safe enough to flirt with a supervillain, as clearly nothing would ever come of it.

* * *

So as Megamind circles her chair, practically whispering in her ear, Roxanne whispers back, and is actually surprised by his whispered answer. Temptress. He’d never called her that before. He immediately launches himself away across the room to activate the deathtraps. Good. Flirt and back off, the expected pattern when it came to Megamind. Much better. Roxanne ignored the fluttering sensation she had felt at his words. Ignored the tiny prick of fear at the implications of the word ‘temptress’.

  
“You’re so predictable.” She taunts, seeing if she can push him into making a mistake early today. She’d promised Wayne to go with him to the Metro Man Day charity gala tonight and wanted to have enough time to properly prepare her outfit this time. She did not want a repeat of the time she had to show up still smelling of smoke and with rushed makeup. Those old rich ladies are so judgmental!

  
“Predictable?!” Megamind draws himself up dramatically, “Predictable?! Oh, you call this predictable?!” and proceeds to activate a whole array of old death traps.

  
Ok, so maybe taunting him wasn’t the best idea, but she certainly cannot back down now. Roxanne internally cringes as the smell of flamethrower fills the room. But! At least Megamind looks like he is finally giving up on trying to scare her. He’s so dramatic it’s almost endearing.

  
“The spider’s new.” She watches the small black creature’s slow descent from the ceiling.

  
“Spider?”

  
His tone of voice and expression of surprise is enough of a giveaway that this wasn’t in fact part of the plan. Roxanne chuckles internally as she watches him pull himself back together and threaten her with the harmless creature, purposeful mispronunciation and all. With a smirk, she blows the critter into his face and watches the ensuing chaos. Poor spider, she thinks, it probably didn’t deserve all that. Roxanne cringes a little as Megamind yells in pain. She really didn’t mean for him to get hurt. It felt unfair to actually hurt him when he never did more than ruin a dress or let a shoe fall into the alligator pit.

  
Then, after all that, his own brainbot gets fed up and bites him. Today really isn’t his best day is it? Maybe she should go a little easy on him. That second bite looked quite painful.

  
Roxanne settles in for the routine exchange as Megamind hits the broadcast button and begins his evil laugh, but the voice that answers him on the other end is unfamiliar.

  
“Megamind! Metro Man just knew you would be showing your ugly face today.” A rough voice came in through the speakers.

  
“What?” Megamind replied in a flat voice, “Who are you? Where is Metro Man?”

  
Roxanne leans forward against the ropes, squinting at the monitors in front of Megamind. Where is Wayne? He was supposed to attend the opening of the Metro Man Museum. It wasn’t like him at all to ditch on adoring fans. On the screen a tall, muscular man in a bright yellow and red outfit stood on the stage, looking up at the cameras with fierce determination and something else Roxanne couldn’t make out through the monitor.

  
“My name is Blaze. Metro Man had an emergency to attend to, so called me in to pick up the trash.”

  
The crowd became noisy, confused by this disruption in the pattern they expected for the day.

  
“What emergency?” Roxanne interjects before Megamind can start the villain-hero banter. Now she recognizes him. Blaze is a fairly new superhero, originally from a small town in Indiana. He’s apparently moving around from city to city, trying to make a name for himself and get established as a Defender.

  
“Don’t know, don’t care. I’m just here to stop you.” Blaze glares at Megamind through the screen.

  
“Oh, you think you can stop me, hero?” Megamind taunts, “This is a day that you and Metrocity shall not soon forget!”

  
“They won’t forget it all right, because today your reign of terror ends for good!” Blaze shouts back.

  
“I’m shaking in my custom baby seal leather boots” Megamind continues with the usual demand, “You will leave Metrocity, or this will be the last you ever hear of Roxanne Richi!”

  
Roxanne can tell that the camera must have been transferred over to her because she can hear the collective gasp of the crowd.

  
“Yeah, yeah, just tell me where you are so I can come kick your ass.” Blaze snarls.

  
Megamind rolls out another evil laugh, “Oh ho ho, we both know that’s not how the game is played-“

  
“We’re at the abandoned observatory!” Roxanne calls out. The domed shape of this room is really rather obvious. Plus, she wants more time to get ready for that stupid gala. Hopefully this Blaze guy won’t take too long to get here. The old observatory is a couple of miles from the city center.

  
“No we’re not!” Megamind is clearly panicking, “Don’t listen to her, She’s crazy!”

  
Ouch. Ok, now Roxanne feels less bad about the spider earlier.

  
On the monitor she can see Blaze look around for a moment. Right, he doesn’t know this city very well. He stomps over to the cowering mayor and demands directions. The audience watches silently. Megamind taps his foot impatiently. That’s odd, she thought he didn’t want their location to be revealed just yet, why is he looking impatient now?

  
Finally, the out of town hero has gotten his bearings. Roxanne can see the mayor scramble off screen as Blaze’s hands start to glow and then white hot flame bursts from his fists, blasting himself into the air. The brainbot cameras pan up to follow his ascent, then cut out as he rises above the buildings and shoots off towards the observatory.

  
Roxanne gives Megamind a mocking laugh. There are few chances she gets to be the one to foil his plans, sure as hell she’s going to gloat a little.  
He laughs back in the same tone, and at first she thinks he’s bluffing, but soon it turns into one of his deep dramatic villain laughs as he presses another button on the consol.

  
Roxanne is thrown off by this, and looks around again as the whole room shifts and what she thought was the old slot for the telescope opens up and reveals not the expected view of the lake, but a skyline interrupted by a hill and was that-?

  
“You didn’t think you were in the real observatory, did you?” Megamind flourishes and grins, like he’s already won. “Ready the death ray, Minion.”  
“Death ray, readying.” Minion pipes up from the side.  
Roxanne can see Blaze’s fireball trail as it streaks down into the real observatory. Cameras there immediately snap on to reveal his flaming entrance. There’s something about the look on his face that makes Roxanne pause. The man is looking around in anger, clearly oblivious to the camera. Then he spins around as a pale blue light shines in the room.

  
“Over here, hero.” Megamind mocks, “In case you haven’t noticed, you fell right into my trap.”

  
Blaze faces the bright monitors and the camera, and Roxanne can now clearly see the expression on his face. It sends an icy trail of fear straight down her spine. The look is pure hatred. Megamind grins, has he not noticed the look on Blaze’s face? Can he not see the danger? Roxanne’s gaze flickers between the two, more nervous now than she has been since her very first kidnapping.

  
“You think you can trick me? You bastard, tell me where you are!” Blaze practically growls, fists clenching and flames licking up his arms.

  
Megamind pauses for a split second, “You know I can’t tell you that, hero, but it has dawned on me that you are not very bright, so there’s your hint.”  
It takes Roxanne a second to realize he’s started with puns and wordplay, something he does when Metro Man doesn’t catch whatever banter cues he gives out. Oh no, she thinks, riling up this particular super is clearly a terrible idea. She debates with herself whether she should reveal that their location is just about directly East of the observatory.

  
“I’m not stupid!” Blaze is looking furious now, “What kind of hint is that? That’s just an insult!”

  
“Oh ho ho, has that thrown you off your trajectory, hero? Is this atmosphere of intellect too much? Perhaps I’ll go easy on you, I wouldn’t want to eclipse your moment of flame.”

  
The flames on hero’s body rise and dance furiously, “Goddamn it you blue freak, stop messing around. You’re really starting to piss me off!”

  
Roxanne sees Megamind stiffen at the insult, though he is turned away from her and she cannot see his expression, his tone is cold with his next sentence.

  
“Well, hero” and the word this time is scathing, “You won’t be angry much longer. In fact, in a few moments you will be nothing but tiny particles, and so I wave goodbye as you face the full, concentrated, power, of the sun! Fire!”

  
Roxanne feels dread creeping in at the expected ensuing moment of silence.

  
“Minion? Fire?”

  
“It’s still warming up, Sir.” Minion looks over at him with a worried expression.

  
So, at least Minion has sensed that this new hero is not like Metro Man, possibly senses the actual danger. Roxanne hopes he can get Megamind out of harms way when Blaze eventually finds them.

  
“I’m going to find you, you monster, and then I’m going to end your terror.” Blaze points a finger at the screen, then turns around and blasts back up through the telescope window.

  
“Where is he, Minion?” Megamind is starting to sound worried now.

  
Before the fishy alien can speak, Roxanne speaks up, “He’s just above the observatory.” She can see his bright flames from across the water. “You two probably want to leave now.”

  
Megamind gives her a confused look, but quickly turns away and straightens his collar, “Yes, we should get going. Ciao-ciao all!” The farewell sounds a bit forcefully cheerful.

  
Roxanne watches, horrified, as the bright spot of Blaze grows bigger. Evidently, he has seen the fake observatory they must be in and is flying straight towards it. She closes her eyes and braces for impact, and is not prepared for the searing heat that hits her as he lands in the small room. The smell of singed hair enters her nose and she silently curses. Opening her eyes again confronts her with the view of Blaze. He is striking a heroic pose.

  
“Not so fast, alien.” Blaze smirks as Megamind turns around to face him, having not quite made it to the exit.

  
Then the world explodes.

  
Well, Roxanne thinks, not the world exactly, but the sudden blinding white light hitting the old observatory and the resulting explosion and shockwave shake her perception of this battle to her core. But she does not have time to reflect on just what that kind of power means, as she opens her eyes to see Blaze destroying the monitors in front of her with a swipe of a flaming fist. She can’t see Megamind, who is behind her, but Minion has frozen up to the side, the terrified expression on his face galvanizes her into action.

  
“Thank you Blaze,” she says, trying to gain his eye contact, “Can I get untied now? These ropes chafe.” That last bit is a lie, but she really wants this new hero to stop looking over her shoulder the way he is.

  
Blaze barely glances at her, then resumes ignoring her, “Not so tough now without all your gadgets and tech, huh you skinny little bastard?” He addresses Megamind, “I don’t know why Metro Man has kept you around this long, you’re nothing but an annoying insect, waiting to get stepped on. No witnesses now, bug.”

  
And suddenly Roxanne knows why Blaze destroyed the monitoring equipment.

  
He starts walking around Roxanne, moving towards Megamind, who attempts to keep his distance by skirting around the perimeter of the room.  
As soon as he is in her line of sight, Roxanne shifts as much as she can in the chair, rope digging into her wrists as she gets her fingers under the edge of her wide belt and grabs the serrated switchblade she stashed there this morning. Silently, she hopes she can get out of these ropes in time to do something.

  
“Ha! Evil cannot be stepped on, hero.” Megamind looks around for another escape route, glancing at the open wall panel.

  
That’s when Blaze lunges at him.

  
Roxanne holds back a yell as she watches the ‘hero’ grab hold of the front of Megamind’s shoulder pads and slam him hard into the wall. The sickening sound of his skull hitting the metal plated surface elicits a cry from Minion.

  
Blaze continues to hold the now struggling Megamind up against the wall, but turns at the sound. “I almost forgot about your pet.” He says, then lets go with one hand so he can swing it around and send a blast of fire at Minion.

  
Minion yelps, and attempts to scramble out of the way, but his mechanical suit is just too slow and the blast hits it square in the chest. The suit falls over, flames eating at the furred shoulders and something sparks a small explosion in the main chassis.

  
“No!” Megamind and Roxanne scream at the same time. Megamind struggles harder.

  
Blaze returns to gripping Megamind with two hands, but looks at Roxanne. For a moment, Roxanne thinks finally, I have your attention, but the brief triumph turns to dread as he growls, “What the fuck?”

  
Then Megamind punches him in the throat.

  
Blaze stumbles back clutching at his throat and drops Megamind, who swiftly ducks past the much bigger man and makes a break towards Minion. He doesn’t get far though. Blaze recovers fast, whipping out a hand to snag the villain by the cape. Roaring in outrage, Blaze pulls Megamind over and drags him back. Megamind flails for a second before frantically undoing the clasp on his cape, but he is too late as by the time he gets it undone he is once again within reach. Blaze grabs his arm and flings him back against the wall hard enough to rattle a metal panel loose. Megamind cries out when he hits the wall before falling to the floor. He pulls himself back up.

  
Roxanne can see a red smear of blood on the wall, and feels panic threaten to overtake her. Why is this damn rope so hard to cut through! She can feel that she’s nearly through it, wrists aching from rope burn and fingers threatening to cramp from the awkward angle, but she persists with increased fervor. She doesn’t know how to stop what is happening when she gets free, but she knows she must do something.  
Blaze is scowling down at Megamind, who is looking back with fierce determination.

  
“That the best you got, ‘hero’?”

  
Blaze punches him in the face, his large blue head smacking back against the wall again, leaving another smear of blood. Megamind doesn’t go down, instead he looks back at the man in front of him with a grin.

  
Roxanne can see blood on his teeth, a busted lip. The grin is unlike any she has seen on his face before. It’s wild. Feral.

  
Megamind punches Blaze in the solar plexus then the nose in quick succession, using the bigger man’s grunts of pain as a moment to slip out of his reach and dance around him, giving another swift jab to his side. Blaze yells in rage and with flaming hands grabs at one of the big metal beams along the wall, wrenching it out of place to swing it around at Megamind. It catches him square in the side. Roxanne swears she can hear several ribs crack as it knocks him over onto the floor. Blaze doesn’t give the villain time to get up, stepping over and kicking him hard in the ribs, sending him rolling into the wall. Megamind makes a pained wheezing sound. Roxanne can’t help but cry out in fear and anger.

  
Megamind opens his eyes at her cry and makes eye contact with her briefly before Blaze stomps down on his thigh with a resulting loud crunch and all Megamind can do is close his eyes and scream.

  
“Hah,” Blaze remarks, “Just like all the others.” He presses a foot down on Megamind’s chest and reaches up to the wall above. White-hot hands encounter dark metal, ripping another beam from the wood beneath, pulling it down on top of the blue form beneath him. “Stop squirming.” He commands, dragging the other beam on top of Megamind too.

But Megamind doesn’t stop, and Roxanne can hear a sickening gurgle in his breathing as he struggles to shift the beam. Blaze slaps him hard in the face, smacking his head into the floor, then grabs Megamind’s broken leg.

  
Roxanne closes her eyes and grits her teeth as she listens to Megamind scream and scream and scream. Then the screaming stops. The quiet, harsh gurgles that replace them are somehow even more horrible. Roxanne can hear Blaze’s footsteps moving away from Megamind, she can hear him moving past her and towards the smoking hunk of metal on the other side of the room, can hear him say, “Let’s make sure I got this one first. I don’t like surprises.”

  
Just then, she can feel the last thread of the rope give beneath her knife. She drops it in her struggle to loosen the ropes enough to get both hands out and then before she can even really think about what she is doing she is scrambling across the floor towards the crumpled blue form. She can now see the damage done to him all too clearly. Her knees drop into a growing pool of blood as she kneels by his mangled leg, the red liquid seeping out from the top of his pants, leather-like material holding in what must be an exposed fracture, everything is at the wrong angle and Roxanne doesn’t know what to do. She looks at his face. Large green eyes stare past her, one is completely bloodshot and blood froths up from his throat and dribbles down from his nose as he wheezes out the word, “Minion…”

  
Roxanne whips her head around to see Blaze hoist up the charred remains of Minion’s suit. As the body tips up, she can see that the domed tank on top is still intact, Minion himself glares up from within it, looking a bit dazed but furious, teeth bared in a snarl, “You’re the monster.” He practically spits the words at Blaze.

  
Blaze laughs and punches a flaming fist into the tank. It cracks. Minion looks scared. Another punch. Another crack. Minion glances over at her, and does a surprised and fearful double take, “Miss Richi! Run!” Then his tank gives out with a shattering sound and water hisses up in a cloud of steam around Blaze’s fist.

  
Roxanne shouts and turns back to Megamind, who is now looking at her with surprise, like he hadn’t known she was there. She wastes no time in leaning over his ruined leg to the holster on his right hip, sliding the one-of-a-kind gun out and pivoting around to a crouch to point it at Blaze.  
“Hey!” She screams at him.

  
Blaze looks around at her angrily, leaning just enough away from the remains of Minion’s suit for her to get a clear shot. She takes it.

  
“Surprise, you fucker.” Roxanne growls as the little blue cube hits the floor.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to try out writing parallel chapters. It was an interesting exercise, and if you hate this type of writing don't worry because the rest of the fic will not be like that at all. It shall progress in a linear fashion. 
> 
> Thanks to everyone who gave the kudos and the comments on the last chapter! 
> 
> I have no idea how long it will take me to get the next chapter out, but I shall do my best to not leave it for months on end. I feel a little bad leaving you all with the same cliffhanger twice.

He flirts with Roxanne because it is safe.

Megamind didn’t even realize he was doing it, at first. In retrospect, he should have figured out what was happening after that second kidnapping. In the first one, he had grabbed the new reporter and held the D-gun to her head and whispered _you should have run when you had the chance_. Really, he should have been the one running, but how could he? When she had turned in anger at the hero for burning him and almost burning her. When she had looked at the hero with righteous fury instead of turning to look at his blue face in disgust. When she told a fellow reporter that she wasn’t afraid of the villain. How else could he respond but to capture her again? He had a reputation to uphold.

So he told himself.

_You are a villain,_ he reminded himself, _You cannot get attached. Attachment brings only pain._ Then on the third kidnapping, she figured out the weak point of his freeze ray and smirked at him and he just… _Oh. Oh no. no no no no no. I_ like _her._ From then on he knew he had to be careful. Don’t stare. Don’t banter too long. Don’t get too close. The bad guy doesn’t get the girl.

But.

But Megamind knows he doesn’t always do the smart thing. He makes mistakes. He always slips up. Ruins everything. So there comes a day when Ms. Ritchi is particularly clever and comes back at one of his proclamations with a remark that’s almost flirty. It takes him by surprise. It must have been a mistake. It couldn’t have been goading, right? Ms. Ritchi could be harsh, but he hadn’t ever heard her be cruel. So he tested it. Prodded at this new boundary with a quip and a wink. Roxanne’s answering banter and toothy grin told him this was a game. Nobody had played a game with him in so very long. He knew he could never win – _the bad guy doesn’t get the girl_ – but he could not resist the inexorable pull.

* * *

When Minion lets slip the location of one of his (many) suppliers, Megamind flails mentally for a moment. No! He can’t have her figuring out and cutting off his supply lines. He needs a distraction. So he pushes his chair across the floor to circle around the reporter, chastising Minion but looking at Roxanne. He so rarely gets to look at her up close.

“Such tricks won’t work on me.” The chair rolls smoothly around, circling ever closer like a moth helplessly circling a mercury vapor bulb.

“Please talk slower.” Roxanne smirks again, and he is done for. Before he can think of what he is about to say it slips out.

“Temptress.” The word burns in his brain as soon as he’s said it. Too close. Too close. Too close to the burning want in his heart. She gasps and he flings himself away across the small expanse of the room.

Then she’s calling him predictable, and suddenly he is quite angry. Not angry with Roxanne. No. More angry with himself. He may be a villain, but he is not _that_ type of villain. Boundaries were pushed today and he must remind himself of the firm lines in the sand.

“You call this predictable!?” It is. He knows it is. That is the point, after all. He was planning on pulling out a deathtrap or two to raise the stakes once Wayne arrived at the observatory, but he deploys them now.

“Your alligators, yes. Yeah, I was thinking about it on the way over.”

Cliché

Juvenile

Tacky

Seen it

Garish

The insults bring him back to equilibrium. Back to the way things should be. He sags dramatically over the console.

Then the spider happens and his whole plan for the pre-plot banter just goes to hell. As brainbot 145 chomps down on his wrist, Megamind reminds himself _this is what you deserve_. _You are Evil._

He flicks the switch to fling his images across town into the large video display he spliced his tech into during construction of the Metro Man museum. Really, they made it too easy leaving it minimally guarded at night. The evil laugh echoes back through the microphones.

Wait, has Metro Man changed his costume?

“Megamind! Metro Man just knew you would be showing your ugly face today.”

No. No, that wasn’t Metro Man at all. “What?” Megamind hides his confusion, schooling his expression and voice neutral, “Who are you? Where is Metro Man?” _What happened to him_ , he doesn’t voice.

“My name is Blaze. Metro Man had an emergency to attend to, so called me in to pick up the trash.” The overly muscled man in bright yellow and red spandex pointed up at the big screens.

_You’re supposed to point at the camerabot. It looks like you’re pointing off to the side randomly in the split-screen display. Amateur._

Roxanne echoed his next thought out loud, “What emergency?”

“Don’t know, don’t care. I’m just here to stop you.” Blaze glares at Megamind through the screen.

_Oh good, you found the camera_ , Megamind rallies back to his plan, “Oh, you think you can stop me, hero?” he taunts, “This is a day that you and Metrocity shall not soon forget!”

“They won’t forget it all right, because today your reign of terror ends for good!” Blaze shouts back.

“I’m shaking in my custom baby seal leather boots” Megamind lifts his foot up by his camera to prove his evil, then gives the usual demand, “You will leave Metrocity, or this will be the last you ever hear of Roxanne Richi!” At this he points dramatically to the side, nowhere near Roxanne’s direction, but Minion will take the cue and swap the camera feeds so the crowd sees only what he wants them to see.

“Yeah, yeah, just tell me where you are so I can come kick your ass.” Blaze snarls.

_This wanabe hero clearly needs to work on his banter, but even a bumbling moron can get to the right point eventually._ Megamind rolls out another signature evil laugh, “Oh ho ho, we both know that’s not how the game is played-“

“We’re at the abandoned observatory!” Roxanne interrupts him right on time, because she is a professional.

God, he admires her.

“No we’re not!” he waves his arms, widens his eyes, and gives an overall panicking expression he learned from cartoons, “Don’t listen to her, She’s crazy!”

When Blaze has to take a moment to get directions from the mayor, Megamind has to resist the strong urge to roll his eyes. _My biggest plan yet and I get this newbie?_ He watches the hero finally blast off towards the abandoned observatory. _Finally._

Roxanne throws a mocking laugh at him, and he throws it right back, and it morphs into the usual evil tone as he watches her face in glee as she slowly realizes her mistake.

“You didn’t think you were in the real observatory, did you?” He grins. Megamind knows it’s a bit of a dirty trick, using Roxanne’s smarts against her like this, but he so rarely gets the upper hand against her observational skills. Plus, it’s only fair after she loudly pointed out the weak point in his big robot suit two months ago. He had thought it was clever to put the power generators in the feet rather than the main body, but apparently the necessarily exposed cooling elements and exhaust jets really should not be put down on the same level with newspaper stands.

But! No use dwelling on the past, he has a plot to be getting on with. Megamind switches on the observatory feed with a flourish.

“Over here, hero. In case you haven’t noticed, you fell right into my trap.” He grins at the angry look on Blaze’s face. It’s been a long time since he garnered such a strong reaction from an opponent. Reminds him of the first few years of dealing with the crime leaders in Metrocity.

“You think you can trick me? You bastard, tell me where you are!” Blaze growls. 

_No witty banter? Amateur,_ Megamind thinks scathingly, _Guess I have to hold up this conversation on my own_. _Right. New banter plans._ “You know I can’t tell you that, hero, but it has dawned on me that you are not very bright, so there’s your hint.”

If possible, Blaze looks even angrier, “I’m not stupid! What kind of hint is that? That’s just an insult!”

_I bet Roxanne’s already figured it out,_ he doesn’t say. Instead, “Oh ho ho, has that thrown you off your trajectory, hero? Is this atmosphere of intellect too much? Perhaps I’ll go easy on you, I wouldn’t want to eclipse your moment of flame.” He’s kind of having fun with this now.

Flames start licking their way across Blaze’s shoulders, “Goddamn it you blue freak, stop messing around. You’re really starting to piss me off!”

Megamind flinches. Blue freak. It’s been years since someone last called him that. To his face anyway. He knows what people think of him. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t still hurt. Now he hopes that he has stalled enough for time.

“Well, hero” the word ‘hero’ scathing, “You won’t be angry much longer. In fact, in a few moments you will be nothing but tiny particles, and so I wave goodbye as you face the full, concentrated, power, of the sun! Fire!”

Dreaded silence fills the room.

“Minion? Fire?”

“It’s still warming up, Sir.” Minion sounds worried.

Shit. This is not good.

Blaze breaks the silence, “I’m going to find you, you monster, and then I’m going to end your terror.”

“Where is he, Minion?”

But before Minion can answer him, Roxanne does, “He’s just above the observatory.” She says, “You two probably want to leave now.”

Megamind turns to look at her, he can’t be sure but he thinks she might sound worried too. Probably for her own safety. Questionably controlled flames in a confined space is a bad combination. She certainly isn’t worried about him.

He turns away and straightens his collar, “Yes, we should get going. Ciao-ciao all!” he can feel how forced that sounds. He hopes Blaze doesn’t figure out this is the top of the Lair. God, moving Evil Lair is such a pain.

Megamind makes it to about three feet from the lift when the heat engulfs the room. He twists around in horror as the smell of singed hair fills the air. Only one person in this room has flammable hair.

“Not so fast, alien.” Blaze smirks.

Megamind opens his mouth to tell off this ‘hero’ for singeing the hostage, and then the death ray touches down. He is momentarily blinded and the rumbling blast of the shockwave whips his cape and collar back, blowing dust into the room. He may have made that a tad overkill. Whoops. He’ll recalibrate later. Right now he has a situation to escape from.

He’s trying to motion to Minion with his eyes to get the henchfish to go grab Roxanne, but Minion is looking in horror at Blaze as he destroys the monitors.

The monitors that were broadcasting the whole battle.

But why would…? Oh. Megamind has the grim realization that this new ‘hero’ isn’t going to play by the rules. He can hear Roxanne thanking Blaze, clearly trying to get his attention and guide him back to the rescue script, but the man with the flaming fists is focused on Megamind.

“Not so tough now without all your gadgets and tech, huh you skinny little bastard?” Blaze sneers at him. “I don’t know why Metro Man has kept you around this long, you’re nothing but an annoying insect, waiting to get stepped on. No witnesses now, bug.”

Megamind starts to circle slowly around the perimeter of the room, slowly, so slowly. He has to get Blaze away from both Roxanne and Minion, give them the chance to get away. A glance at Roxanne as he moves around to her front shows her fumbling with something in her belt behind her back. Probably going after the knife she has stashed there. Good. Even if he doesn’t make it out of this, she and Minion have a good chance.

“Ha! Evil cannot be stepped on, hero.” He tries to stall for more time, glancing out at the open wall panel. Could he make it there in time?

His split moment of inattention was a mistake. Blaze lunges at him, grabbing hold of his shoulder pads and lifting him to slam against the wall. Megamind can feel his skin break as his head slams into the metal wall. Ouch. He struggles to slip free, but Blaze is holding him in a way that is blocking him from accessing the release clips in his shoulder array.

“I almost forgot about your pet.” Blaze gives him a nasty smirk, and then lets go with one hand to send a blast of fire at Minion.

“No!” Megamind screams, he thinks he may have heard Roxanne say something, but he is too focused on trying to get free to figure out what it was. Nobody hurts Minion. The two-handed grip returns, but now Megamind is scanning Blaze, looking for any possible weak point. This guy has flame powers and clearly a bit of super strength, but it doesn’t feel like the steely invulnerability of Metro Man.

As Blaze looks away, distracted by whatever Roxanne said, Megamind strikes out, hitting him square in the vocal chords. A punch he knows would likely kill a normal human. He’ll take his chances with this one.

Blaze drops him and stumbles back, clutching at his throat. Megamind ducks around his bulky form, looking for Minion. He has to save Minion. There on the ground is the sparking and sizzling robot suit, fur on fire, but the dome looks intact. Maybe Minion is still ok.

Then thick hands grab his cape and pull him backwards nearly off his feet. With a bit of flailing to keep his balance, he is able to undo the clasp of the cape. As it falls to the floor he realizes he wasn’t quite fast enough, and Blaze grabs his arm and swings him around back into the wall. Pain blossoms across his skull as the previous wound smacks into cold metal again. The moment after he hits the ground he pulls himself to his feet and glares at Blaze.

“That the best you got, ‘hero’?” Megamind can feel the adrenalin starting to fuel an old, familiar dark mood.

Blaze punches him directly in the face, smacking his head back into the wall, but Megamind’s skull is tougher than a human’s. His lip splits, but nothing breaks. He looks back up at the thug before him and grins. It’s too sharp, too wide, and he can taste blood in his mouth, but he’s done acting for an audience.

Megamind lunges suddenly, punching Blaze in the solar plexus and the nose in quick succession, slipping out of his reach as he grunts in pain and adding another swift jab to the liver. The overly muscular man roars in rage and his hands burst into flames as he switches tactics to reach for one of the big metal beams along the wall, wrenching it out of place and swinging it around. It catches Megamind square across the side, he can feel at least a couple of ribs give way. Shit. Fuck. He underestimated his opponent’s strength. As he is painfully trying to get up again, Blaze kicks him hard in the same ribs. Pain blacks out his vision for a moment as he rolls into the wall, but then he hears Roxanne make a fearful sound. Is she hurt? He opens his eyes to look at her. She looks scared. He’s never seen her look this scared before. Then he looses himself in a scream as Blaze’s foot comes down on his thigh and crushes it.

“Hah,” Blaze gloats, “Just like all the others.”

Every breath is pain, every movement is pain, but Megamind struggles to get up anyway. He always knew it would end like this. Well, this or his own invention blowing up in his face. He always hoped it would be this though. Better to go out fighting.

“Stop squirming.” Blaze sounds annoyed now.

Megamind briefly wonders how many people this man has killed, but can’t ponder it for long as another beam is dragged over his middle and dropped in place. Goddamn it, if he didn’t have so many broken bones it would be so easy to slide out from under this. Megamind can feel blood frothing up in his lungs, sliding down his sides from his gill slits, and slipping out of his clothes onto the floor, but he can’t give up. Must not give up. Minion and Roxanne are still not safe. He can’t gain enough leverage on the beam to shift it, but he keeps struggling to try and maintain Blaze’s focus on him.

It works, and Blaze slaps him hard in the face, hitting his head for the third time against the floor. Then the man grabs his broken leg and Megamind is blinded in pain as the shards of bone in his leg are twisted. _This is it_ , he thinks as his vision swims into black.

It didn’t end there. When light starts to return, he can see the colorful form of Blaze moving towards where Minion’s suit went down. No! No no no no no… but he can’t move. There’s too much pain. He had always tried to keep Minion safe. Out of the line of the cameras, outside the designated combat zones. He was too used to Metro Man’s way of treating Minion like an animal not worthy of his time or attention. He had gotten sloppy this time. Now his dearest and oldest friend was going to pay for his mistake. Megamind struggled to call out, “Minion…”

He can only watch in horror as Blaze lifts Minion’s suit up. He can’t see any details, but Minion sounds furious when he spits out “You’re the monster.”

Then Blaze starts punching the dome.

Minion cries out, “Miss Richi! Run!”

Megamind tears his gaze away from Minion. He hadn’t noticed that Roxanne was still in the room. He had assumed she would have cut her ropes and escaped by now. What was she doing, over here by him? He can see her moving over him, but his vision is going black around the edges. He blinks and widens his eyes, vainly trying to see better, as he feels his gun being slipped from its holster. Did Roxanne take his gun? What is she doing?

His vision is almost completely black when he hears her shout and the sound of a blast from his gun.

“Surprise, you fucker.” Roxanne snarls.

_I’m so glad I got to work with you_. Megamind thinks, and the thought slips away from him along with the rest of his senses as he loses consciousness.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, new chapter finally finished! (I did warn you that I write slow) I read all the comments, and they bring me much joy! Thank you all for the kind words! Yes, I will be continuing this fic! Apologies for it taking so long, February is the worst and my beloved bearded dragon has started having breathing problems due to the untreatable cancer he was diagnosed with a year ago. Death watch is stressful.   
> I recently convinced a friend to do a bit of beta-reading, so hopefully this chapter has fewer typos and weird wordings than the last two. Enjoy!

Minion’s suit slumps to the floor with a clatter, and a… yelp?

“Minion?” Roxanne steps over the glowing blue cube on the floor to get a better look. “Are you ok?”

A wheezing noise, then “… yeah. A bit… maybe a bit burnt, but I’m alive. Is sir…?” He starts to flop over, clearly trying to get an angle to see over the rim of his suit.

“Don’t move!” Roxanne bursts out. He startles. She continues in a calmer tone, “There’s glass everywhere. Be careful, ok? I’ll go check on Megamind.”

Not waiting for a response, Roxanne turns towards the badly injured villain. Oh dear. Oh no. That is a _lot_ of blood on the floor. His eyes are half closed and sightless. Is he breathing? She steps closer and can see that he is, but very shallowly. Ok.

“He’s still alive, but really badly hurt, Minion.” Roxanne’s voice wavers, she doesn’t know what to do. She doesn’t want to lose him. “What do I do?” She asks.

“Shoot him with the dehydrate setting, Miss Ritchi.” Minion sounds calm. “It’s like a stasis. It’s safe.”

“Right. Right. Ok.” Roxanne notices she is still holding tight to the De-gun, and raises it with hands that are now starting to tremble. _Adrenaline_ , part of her mind notes distantly as she lines up a nearly point-blank shot to his chest. She shoots, and Megamind warps into a little blue cube in the blink of an eye, falling to land a mere centimeter or two from his own pool of blood. Roxanne panics and twitches out her hand to grab him up away from the liquid. She takes a moment to stare at the life literally in her hand. Then she stands and turns around, tucks the cube into her belt and fumbles with the De-gun to find the safety before also shoving that in her belt.

Now that she isn’t faced with immediate danger, her fear simmers down into something resembling calm.

She looks at the other blue cube on the floor. Blaze. He nearly killed Megamind. He hurt Minion. He could have killed her. ‘No witnesses’ he’d said. She glares at the cube. Imagines, briefly, of stepping on it, crushing it into the metal floor, grinding her heel down.

Roxanne takes a deep breath. She is not a killer. _Besides_ , she thinks, _this monster deserves to rot in a high security prison for the rest of his life_. So instead of crushing him, she picks him up too. With a quick malicious thought she flips the cube upside down before tucking it in the opposite side of her belt from Megamind’s cube.

Then she turns her attention back to Minion, who perks his fins up a little as she looks at him.

“Thank you Miss Ritchi.” His fins flutter nervously. “The escape door is just over there, to my right.” He gestures with his eyes. “Could you… could you leave Sir with me? The medical staff at the prison isn’t very… good? With him.”

Roxanne shakes her head in disbelief. “I’m not just going to leave you guys here! You’re hurt! Minion, do you have a spare robot suit or something? How do I get you back to the Lair? How long can you be out of water?”

Minion attempts a toothy smile, “I’ll be fine Miss Ritchi. I breathe through my skin. But if you want to help, you could… um… pick me up?” Minion looks sheepish. “It’s not far to an old suit of mine. We’re actually right on top of the Lair.”

“Good. Let’s go then.” Roxanne carefully scoops her hands under Minion’s body, his ventral tendrils curl to grip her fingers and steady himself. He presses his fins close to his sides. She hadn’t really realized before just how small he is. He’s always in such a huge robot suit. “Is this ok? I’m not hurting you?”

Minion smiles gratefully, “I’m sore all over, everything hurts a little, but it’s ok. We need to get moving.”

“Right. Yes.” Roxanne makes her way to the lift Minion mentioned earlier and shifts Minion in her hands in order to push the down button. She stumbles a little as the mechanism lurches into motion. Whoa. When did she start feeling kind of fuzzy? _Shit_ , she thinks, _no, I cannot go into shock right now. Later. Focus._ She takes carefully deep breaths as the main room of the Lair comes into view.

She hears a curious bowg and looks up to see a pack of brainbots floating up to them.

“It’s ok!” Minion pipes up, “Code: Miss Ritchi is a guest now.”

More bowging, and the group push in closer, red eye lights all pointed curiously at Roxanne.

“Hey. Hey! No gawking!” Minion admonishes, “There’s work to do. 314, go get the cleanup kit. 228, Edgar, 180, you go get my old suit ready for use, the model 25.9. Pinky: hot cocoa for one. The rest of you are on roof cleanup. Go!”

The cyborgs bowg in affirmation, then zoom off to complete their tasks.

“Edgar and Pinky?” Roxanne asks as the lift grinds to a halt on the floor and they step out into the room.

“The older ones sometimes develop names.” Minion replies. “Ok, now we need to go to your right, around back of the curtain area there’s a door and a staircase going down.”

At the bottom of the stairs is a short and dimly lit corridor with five doors. “Where to now?” Roxanne asks.

“Second door on the left.” Minion rasps a little.

Roxanne hurries over, finds the door unlatched. She pushes it open to see a storage room lined with vaguely humanoid forms. Wow. Three brainbots, presumably Edgar, 180, and 228, are fussing around with the suit nearest the door. Its domed headpiece is filling with water. Minion starts chattering at the cyborgs, but all the other suits in the room distract Roxanne. Most are large, similar to the one Minion wears now, but there are clearly older models here. In the far corner she sees some child-sized forms, some with domes, some with empty round indentations in the shoulders. When did Megamind start making these?

“Miss Ritchi?” Minion moves in her hands and gets her attention. “I can get in the suit now, please.”

“Oh! Sorry.” Roxanne reaches up to slip Minion into the open top of the dome, reflexively wiping her hands on her dress as she watches him swim a few circles before settling in.

Then she makes the mistake of looking down.

The hem of her dress around her knees is dark red. She notices that she can feel it sticking to her knees too. Blood. Megamind’s blood. Drying there on her dress and on her skin. The floating/dizzy feeling is back.

Minion’s suit shudders to life and stands up from its lean against the wall. “Miss Ritchi? Are you alright? What-?” He follows her gaze down. “Oh.” He gently and slowly touches her shoulder with his big metal hand, retracting immediately when she startles and looks up at him with wide eyes.

“Miss Ritchi, can you hear me?”

She nods shakily, “Y-yes Minion. I can hear you. Sorry. I… it’s just…”

“It’s ok Miss Ritchi, we’ll get you cleaned up and on your way home soon.” Minion turns his suit around to reach for a box on a shelf, while maintaining his position facing her in the dome. “I just need to switch out these hands for some more delicate ones.”

“Is… is he going to be ok? Is Megamind going to be ok?” Roxanne silently curses herself for the way her voice shakes.

Minion pauses for second as he swaps suit hands, “I hope so. He’s… I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but he has been hurt before. Broken bones. He heals pretty fast once everything’s back in place. But… it’s never been this bad before. I hope he will be ok. He _has_ to be ok. I will take care of him. I will fix this.” He says with conviction.

Roxanne hopes he isn’t trying to convince himself.

Another brainbot swoops into the room carrying a medical kit in its grasping arms. It bowgs expectantly at Minion.

“Thank you 314. Now, Miss Ritchi, let’s get you cleaned up. If you’ll follow me to the kitchen? It has better lighting.”

Roxanne nods and follows him.

* * *

It isn’t until she is seated on a kitchen stool, warm cup of hot chocolate in her hands, a used medical cleanup kit beside her on the counter and Megamind’s cube next to it, that she remembers. “I have to call my boss.” She states, looking up at Minion.

“There’s a phone booth about a block South from here. I think it still works.” Minion talks while he starts packing up the kit, throwing away the used gauze.

“I don’t have any money.”

Minion rummages around in a cabinet, pulling out an old rusted tin can and setting it in front of her. It’s full of coins and rolls of bills. “Here,” he says, “Take whatever you need for a call and a cab ride. I would offer to drive you, but…” he looks pointedly at the blue cube on the counter.

“You need to take care of him.” Roxanne finishes. “Thank you so much Minion.” She starts counting out coins for two calls and grabs a roll of bills, eyes widening as she sees they are all 100’s. Whatever. She can give the extra back later. Lots of things need to be thought about later.

“314?” Minion addresses the brainbot still in the room, who quickly pretends like it hadn’t been inching slowly closer to Roxanne during their discussion. “Accompany Miss Ritchi to the phone, ok? I’m counting on you to keep her safe.”

The cyborg bowgs loudly and circles around to hover above Roxanne’s left shoulder, limbs tucked up and eye stalk scanning around before looking at her again.

“Hello 314. Show me the way out?” Roxanne asks.

314 wiggles in the air in glee and bowgs, flying off a few feet towards the door, then turning to look back at her.

Roxanne pushes out a small smile, “I’m coming.”

* * *

Warm dry air blows in her face as she steps out of the Lair and follows 314 down the empty street. Right. It’s still the afternoon in late June in Metro City. She can see the old telephone booth as they round the corner of the block. It’s rusted, and absolutely covered in graffiti, but as she gets close she can see that it at least appears to be in working order. 314 hovers beside her protectively, looking around the vicinity as Roxanne pushes coins into the slot and dials her boss’s number.

He picks up immediately. “Who is this? How did you get this number?”

“It’s Roxanne.”

“Ritchi! My God! Where are you?! What happened after the cameras went out? Megamind’s airship just left. Where’s that new Hero, what’s-his-name?”

“I’m safe. There was…” Roxanne thinks quickly, “a fight. After the cameras went dead. Megamind dehydrated Blaze, but I was able to escape. I’ll write it all up in a report as soon as I get home.

“I need your face reporting on this!” he exclaims, “you saw that massive explosion up close! We need the inside scoop an hour ago!”

“I’m sorry, I’ll do a really thorough piece tomorrow, ok? My hair got singed and my clothes are dirty, I’m not camera-ready.”

“Fine. I’ll put Sabrine on and we’ll just drag out the museum coverage. I want that report ready by 8am sharp tomorrow though.”

Roxanne could practically hear him wagging his finger. “Yes. Tomorrow. Bye Frank.” She hung up quickly and leaned against the frame of the payphone for a minute, took 3 deep breaths, then dialed for a cab.

* * *

When the cab comes around the corner, Roxanne suddenly realizes the brainbot is still there. She tries to frantically shoo it around the phone booth into hiding. It goes, but seems reluctant and whirrs a whine.

“You’ve been a good bot.” Roxanne consoles it, “Very good, but I have to go home now, and the cab driver probably won’t pick me up if they see you.”

314’s eye looks between her face and the car pulling up behind her, then settles with a little bob of understanding. Roxanne sighs in relief, and turns toward the cab.

As she slides into the cab, Roxanne startles at the lump in the back of her belt. The de-gun! She _still has it_. Distractedly giving the driver her address, she settles carefully against the seat, gun pressed hard against her lower back, a reminder of just what she experienced today. _Breathe_ , she tells herself, _in… out_. Everything will be ok. Probably.

Time blurs, and before she knows it Roxanne is handing the cab driver far more money than is owed. “Keep the change,” she says, “and don’t tell anyone where I was.”

The driver looks at the cash and whistles, “You got it, ma’am. Have a good evening!”

Roxanne keeps breathing steadily as she walks into her building, waves at Carlos, and waits in the long elevator ride up to her apartment. The feeling of shock has started to wear off, growing anger replacing it. What emergency was Wayne called off on? Why the hell would he call in the worst possible replacement Hero?! Did he not listen to her at all two months ago when they had that lunch ‘date’ right after her research into her piece about up-and-coming superheroes? _Goddammit Wayne_.

She sets the gun and the blue cube on her desk, kicks off her shoes, grabs the wireless landline phone – silently praising past Roxanne who had it installed after her fifth kidnapping, the second time her cell got left in her purse in the work van – and collapsed down on the couch.

After a moment to collect and calm herself, she dials Wayne.

He answers on the third ring.

“Hey Roxie, what’s up?” He sounds tired. Exhausted.

Roxanne is just a little bit too mad to care, “’What’s up’?! Wayne! You left without a word! And why the hell did you think it was ok to call in Blaze, of all people? What the hell?! What could possibly be so important?”

Wayne sighs, “I tried calling you, left a message on your cellphone. Guess you must have already been kidnapped.” He pauses. “Look, Richard had a minor heart attack earlier. He’s ok. He’s ok. Just… in the hospital under supervision. I had to be here.”

Richard Scott may have always been aloof and, if she’s allowed to think it, a bit of a misogynistic asshole, but he is still Wayne’s father. She can’t be mad at Wayne for staying with a sick family member. Shouldn’t be mad. Roxanne swallows her anger.

“I’m so sorry to hear that. Give him my best wishes.”

“Will do, Roxie. Thanks. Hey, how did Blaze do today? So nice of him to offer to fill in for me, huh?”

The anger threatens to come back. She shoves it down again. Grits her teeth against it. “I have notes. We need to talk, but not right now. Lunch on Tuesday?”

“Yeah, yeah sure. Lunch on Tuesday. See you then Roxie.”

She hangs up and slumps back into the couch with a groan. The desk with her laptop stares at her. She glares back at it. _I have had a horrible day_ , she thinks, _I am allowed an early dinner and early bed, and I will get up early and write that damn report_. As she stands to go to the kitchen, her eye catches movement outside her balcony. A stroke of fear rushes in and she turns sharply. There’s a brainbot hovering outside the glass. Oh. Heart rate returning to normal, Roxanne goes and opens the sliding door.

“Hello?”

* * *

314 was feeling anxious as they watched [Designation: Miss Ritchi_Guest] leave in the unfamiliar yellow vehicle. Two commands struggled for control.

[Order - via Minion: ‘Accompany Miss Ritchi to the phone’, ‘keep her safe’]

[Request - via Miss Ritchi: physical request for hiding, ‘the cab driver probably won’t pick me up if they see you’. Extrapolation: request not be seen, not follow]

[Incompatible commands: Accompany Miss Ritchi/not follow]

[Reference Command Hierarchy: Megamind_Daddy, Minion, Miss Ritchi_Guest, Stranger_Alert!_Reference Subroutine 005]

[Minion > Miss Ritchi_Guest]

[Adaptive Order: Accompany and protect Miss Ritchi_Guest, not seen by Stranger]

314 waits until the yellow vehicle starts moving away, then follows it at a distance. The vehicle stops at a tall building. The brainbot hides behind the corner and observes as [Miss Ritchi_Guest] exits the vehicle and enters the building.

[Location Scan: Miss Ritchi_Home_Reference Subroutine 841]

[Subroutine 841: Do not enter! Exception: Invited]

They fly up to the balcony and perch on the railing, watching as [Miss Ritchi_Guest] enters her apartment, does some things, then sits on the couch.

[Miss Ritchi_Guest] is talking into a device. She sounds angry.

[Anger: Frustrated/scared? Inconclusive. More data required]

314 slips off the railing to hover closer to the glass. [Miss Ritchi_Guest] gets up, looks over. [Spotted! Hello!]

Excitement fills the bot’s circuits as the door is opened and they are greeted.

* * *

“314? Did you follow me all the way here?” Roxanne can’t help but smile at the enthusiastic cyborg, who bowgs and bobs and clacks the little pinchers at the end of its arms. “I suppose you were told to keep me safe.” She thinks about sending it home, but the thought of spending the evening all alone in her apartment when she could have extra time with a brainbot has her ushering it inside instead. Megamind always talks to them as if they were pets, and she is curious to learn more about them.

314 hesitates at the threshold, eye shifting between Roxanne and the open doorway.

“Yes, you can come in. There’s a good bot.”

It flies in and immediately starts looking at absolutely everything with the same excitement she’s seen in dogs sniffing about a new space. The anger she was feeling towards Wayne and Blaze loosens, and she chuckles a little at the brainbot’s antics.

When it’s done, it settles down on the kitchen island and casually switches between watching out the balcony window and the door, sneaking glances at her every few minutes. Roxanne feels strangely at ease with its presence. She’s always wanted a dog, grew up with dogs, cats, and chickens, but the apartment doesn’t allow pets. Even if it did, she couldn’t give a pet enough time between her job and the kidnappings. Maybe she can convince Megamind to let her keep this brainbot. Hah. As if that would go well.

Roxanne settles down in front of the TV with dinner and 314 dutifully follows to keep watch from the back of the couch. She feels exhausted. Thinking about Megamind reminds her of how she last saw him. She selects an old favorite and lets a girl and her alien dog fill the cracks in her mind. Holding herself together for a couple of hours. There’s time for crying later in the shower.

* * *

Lying in bed, staring at the dark ceiling, Roxanne cannot fall asleep. Every time she closes her eyes she sees red. Blood on her dress, blood on the ground, blood dribbling out of Megamind’s nose and mouth. Eyes back open. She turns. Turns again. Sighs. _Fuck it_. She gets up to go write that report for tomorrow.


End file.
